Here’s a good story from my 1976 Olympics experience. At least how I remember it.
After about a week of competition all the Australian athletes at the Olympic Games in Montreal were invited to a reception with the Prime Minister of Australia, Malcolm Fraser. Food and drinks, non-alcoholic of course, were available and while drinking a cup of coffee Mr. Fraser walked around talking to the athletes. Very informal. At one point he began talking with me, my coach Barry Cheales and a couple of other team members. After some initial small talk he asked me why I thought we had not won a gold medal so far. So I gave him my opinion, that we should have government financial assistance. I talked about how the European countries had wonderful government supported training centers and that’s the sort of thing we needed. Very quickly the reporters gathered around at such a “contentious” topic. We were both quite relaxed and non-confrontational. I did have my arms folded though, that’s me on the left. And of course if you take enough photos you can find one with a not-so-happy expression. Anyway, the reception ended, we returned to competing in the Games, and Mr. Fraser went home.
Apparently though the reporters put their own spin on it back home, because the next day my Dad called me and asked “Phil, what did you say to the Prime Minister?” I said “Why?” He said “You are on the front page of the newspaper. It says you attacked the Prime Minister!” Later when I got home he showed me the newspaper article which he had cut out for me. Here it is.
Discussion with Prime Minister Fraser
So how did that help form the Australian Institute of Sport? Well check out the Wikipedia page.
Australian Institute of Sport – Wikipedia
Look to the “History” section and you will see that the AIS was established in 1981 just a few years after the Montreal Games. Also there is a sentence in the first paragraph:
“The need of the AIS was compounded in 1976 when the Australian Olympic team failed to win an Olympic gold medal in Montreal, which was regarded as a national embarrassment for Australia”.
Just what the Prime Minister and I were talking about. So maybe our small group of concerned athletes expressing our opinion at that reception did make a difference!